Chief Shepherd
The Chief Shepherd is the senior cleric and principal teacher of the Northshire Communion, the symbolic head of the faithful of the Light, and the head of religious affairs in regards to priests and paladins in communion with the Holy See. The Chief Shepherd is elected by unanimous vote by all shepherd-bishops in conclave from among any member of the faithful. The current Chief Shepherd is Alonsus II. Born Johannes Moorwhelp, Alonsus is 136th in a line of archbishops which goes back over 2,000 years, tracing its origins through Sacred Lineage to Mereldar, the first priest of the Holy Light. Alonsus II succeeded Caspius, who succeeded Columban V, who succeeded Benedictus, who succeeded Alonsus I, who was Archbishop during the First War. Function The Chief Shepherd is the leader of the First See, and he is thus the head of sacred doctrine and canon law. He is the first minister of the Sacred Lineage, and therefore has the prerogative to anoint paladins, ordain priests, and consecrate shepherd-bishops. Chronicles Tribal Prophets Sacred Lineage links every priest, church doctrine claims, to the first priestess, Mereldar, who first among those of Azeroth was given revelations by angelic beings of the Light, and her many fellow-prophets in the primitive church. In orthodox ecclesiology, therefore, every local church throughout time forms a branch of the tree of this lineage, linking every cleric (and thus every follower) to the spirit and prophetic authority of the first men. As the church grew from its tribal bearings and was influenced by the Kingdom of Lordaeron, the lineage became much more formal, with different sorts of bishops and priests having different roles. The archbishop, who was sometimes called Chief Shepherd, took the place of Mereldar, the prophetic voice. The Middle Church The archbishop's role in society and means of election often changed throughout history according to the climate of the Church, but the role in the ecclesiastic hierarchy has always been the prophetic greenskeeper of the sacred lineage, who has the sole ability to create bishops and the expectation to prophesy to the people. The Chief Shepherd's means of election was often irregular in previous centuries. Often the bishops would gather in council and elect an archbishop to be the Chief Shepherd, but other times, especially in times of crisis, indecision, or difficulty, a Chief Shepherd would be acclaimed by a group of bishops, clerics, commoners, or even monarchs. Alonsus Faol Alonsus Faol was perhaps one of the last (before recent years) to bear both the title Archbishop and Chief Shepherd. After Alonsus moved the Holy See to Stormwind City, the title Chief Shepherd began to become associated with the leader of the cathedral proper, a usage that became extinct after his death, though was revived during the Elemental Invasion. Schismatic Lines This solution to the difficulty of having no archbishops sometimes caused the difficulty of having two or more who simultaneously claimed the office, an ecclesiastical conundrum; just as it is seemly and necessary for the church to always have a Chief Shepherd, it degrades the moral authority of the church and causes conflict within the faithful for two to claim the office. This problem was especially prevalent in the years after the Third War when the Church in the north was decimated, its remnants converting to the Scarlet heresy. Scarlet heretics acclaimed an Archbishop, as well as the Gilneans, who shut themselves off from the carnage. Benedictine Years The Church of the Holy Light leader in Stormwind, Jarl, was elected by a council of bishops as the clear leader of the Church despite this. A student of Alonsus I, he chose for himself the name Benedictus gathered a divided church, which had split very clearly into three ideological factions, one in favor of an isolated church, one in favor of a militant church, and the other in favor of a church that would return to its roots. The Church would soon begin to crack along even more lines, namely new and old, and the council was all but in shambles towards the end of Benedictus's archiepiscopate. Johannes Moorwhelp, Mellar Servus, and others began to reform the council and to grow it with the passive consent of the archbishop. Together, they began to bring the church together, forming from a divided church a tenuous unity built on a desire to work openly to improve first the church's ritual systems and centralize it. Eventually, the council set about compelling diverse orders from all lands to send their brightest to learn to be priests. The Columbian Years When Benedictus disappeared, the council was silent for nearly a year on the matter. When schism became eminent pending the action of the Council, it fell to this organization, not originally built for a decision such as this, to declare the Archbishop dead and elect another. Johannes Moorwhelp oversaw this process with the help of his clerk, Erich Gottfried Manstein, and from it came Mellar Servus, one of the original founders of the reformed council, who chose for himself the name Columban V. The election was amicable, unanimous, and positively received by the public. Columban's rule was marked by reforms to canon law and the continuation of the revisions of sacred scripture. He tried and succeeded to bring the council together under a clear teacher-leader. His chastisement was often harsh, but his grace was saintly in a way that was unique to him. He was slain by the Forsaken willingly following his capture, and he was proclaimed a saint immediately after. The Caspian Years Columban's death brought vengeance to the minds of many in the church and caution still to others. As the whole church struggled to discern the message and prophecy that their beloved holy father left behind, the Council was again tasked with the election. Two clear front-runners emerged from the factions: Eustasius Greenleaf and Johannes Moorwhelp. Much less prepared for this conclave, the council debated bitterly on the direction of the Church, the war with the Horde, the company that each kept, their preparedness for the office, among many other factors. The election took a sudden surge for Eustasius Greenleaf after an intermission; unbeknownst to Johannes Moorwhelp, Eustasius set about the work of securing votes by offering varied positions of power to bloc leaders. Nonetheless, vote after vote, Johannes and his ever-smaller bloc held out, preventing unanimity until the matter was discussed by the voters. The conclave was ended by an obscure law that states, in the case of difficulty in choosing a Chief Shepherd, the Council can move to lower the bar from unanimity to a supermajority. Possessing a supermajority, Eustasius was elected and chose for himself the name Caspius, his saintly father's name. Caspius and Johannes preceded to feud bitterly, often publicly. Caspius at first set to placate Johannes with a newly formed office, the office of Lord Chamberlain of the Church; unswayed by this bribery, Johannes accused Caspius of simony to win the election, though he tried to avoid rumor of this in public for fear that it would damage the church that they both, though through different methods, sought to build. Caspius and Johannes's conflict reached a head when Caspius issued a formal rebuke in the form of the Censure: Johannes Moorwhelp. Through a combination of withdrawal of signatures, lobbied by Johannes and those that supported him, and what historians regard as miscommunication, the integrity of the document fell apart in the eyes of the public. Following this, Johannes was summoned forthright to the territory of the Holy See, which was then in Tyr's Hand. In the cathedral, many gathered to witness the spectacle between the two rivals. There, Caspius requested formally that Johannes resigned; when Johannes refused, he expected to be removed, but instead, Caspius abdicated the office himself. Caspius himself later regarded the decision to promise position to powerful clerics as fatal to the longevity of his archiepiscopacy, setting subsequent pontiffs up for a difficult time with a council that had gained a reputation for internal strife. Caspius's reign, despite the turmoil of it, was marked by progress in canon law and an elevation of the courtly traditions of the shepherdic office. He continued the work of the original council through the sacred scripture. He reformed the knight-protectors of the Church into something of a standing army for the protection of the faithful. Caspius was accessible in ways that previous Archbishops never were. He was regarded as a populist archbishop, keeping himself close to the people. The Secundian Years Third Conclave The third conclave of the council was soon underway, perhaps the most largely attended conclave of all time. The faithful stood shoulder to shoulder, guardsmen lined the halls. Two billows of purple smoke ascended from the tower of the Abbey of Northshire, before the fated white smoke symbolized that a new pontiff had been elected unanimously. The fastest conclave since the election of Alonsus Faol, Johannes Moorwhelp emerged as the simply dressed Alonsus II. A procession was held to Stormwind, his own diocese, where he was coronated and announced his cabinet. He chose to retain his diocese of Stormwind, and for the first time since Alonsus, the titles Chief Shepherd and Archbishop coincided. The decision to keep Stormwind was a difficult one for Alonsus, who had made Stormwind his home for just under a decade. Though the call was a difficult one, the decision was ultimately made with the ideal that none among the council were yet ready to manage. Much to the surprise of all, he announced that he would not be changing any cabinet members from the chosen of Caspius, his rival. This, he thought, would show that despite his platform of reform, he was more than willing to work with the body as it was. This would later prove fatal for the tenuous peace he was working to create. Reforms Johannes's reforms were swift and decisive. No scholarly Columban or courtly Caspius, Alonsus was ever the administrator and facilitator, and his archiepiscopacy took that character. He brought in help for his varied projects from all walks of ecclesiastic society, even bringing in his rival, Archbishop Caspius. He set about to reform the antiquated canon law, suspending the old and drafting a new with the help of a few experts. He finally finished the decade-old business of the promulgation a central rubric for all official rites of the Church. He brought Silver Hand orders together in closer communication in hope of a revival of a congregation for all paladins of the Alliance, something that he has not yet realized. Excepting canon law, his most sweeping reforms were to the way the church hierarchy works, namely in the formation of provinces and dicasteries, a move that he hoped would solidify what he called a "church central", a network of utilities such as education, sacred doctrine, legal, and financial institutions that would act to equip holy orders for more efficacy and cooperation in the works of the Light. The greater successes his reforms had, the more inspired came his follow-up. Education was thriving, doctrinal discussion was vibrant and active, liturgy was regular, and the priesthood was growing immensely. Problems arose as the newly-organized powers began to step over the boundaries of one another, and Alonsus struggled to mediate the problems in ways that ended with cordial relations between all bishops. This internal conflict began to boil over and resulted in stagnation in the election of bishops as varied factions held grudges against the other. This stagnation was something that deeply troubled Alonsus, but he had a plan that would hopefully end in a more diverse council that could not be so easily stalled by internal strife. As part of his reforms to provinces, he would spread the power of the nomination of bishops from the direct purview of the council to a system of local synods, who would submit their nominations to bishops. Bishops would then submit their recommendations to the First See, which had free authority to follow or ignore this advice. This innovation served many purposes, the first which was to tap into the local churches to involve them with decisions that mattered. This would allow many people to gain access to the potential to become bishops, even those that were not in the inner circle of other bishops, a systemic problem in the past. This posed bishops as administrators of the synods, but not the sole power to deny a worthy candidate. Alonsus could then use his prerogative, he hoped, to weed out the instances of politicking in the council and allow the council to grow. Alonsus expected some issue from this loss of prerogative among the bishops, but he did not anticipate the distrust that it would cause. Alonsus' strength within his council was that his dealings were open, and he often discussed he works with his bishops, but though the synodic system was imposed, the system bred a great deal of distrust and angst from the council. The synodic system plowed through, though often becoming mired with its inherent bureaucratic nature. Around the second round of synods, some bishops began to set about rumors that Alonsus was rigging the elections, presumably with the goal of securing a larger majority on the council. Alonsus was appalled by these rumors given his history of thwarting such aspirations of others. He decided to ignore the rumors, but he became somewhat jaded to many in the council for implicating this. He at this time started a war on crime in Stormwind, which would get him involved in a fight he could not finish. The Hidden Year Alonsus II received a missive that would shake his world and, eventually, the world of the church. The missive was from the man that Alonsus II idolized most, his predecessor, teacher, and spiritual father long deceased: Alonsus Faol. Faol pleaded with Alonsus II to make haste to Faol's own tomb. Alonsus set about the business of gathering a small group of his most trusted clergy, leaving a chosen few behind to run the cathedral in his absence and keep his meeting a secret. Alonsus would set about the business of the Conclave, taking orders from Faol and Calia in this work. His adventures and exploits were great in these times as he united the priesthoods and religions of the world with the goal of defeating the Legion. Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and months to nearly a whole year. Alonsus was scarce to the public during these times, and the rumors that he had left unattended to fester. He tried to maintain some base level of activity, but his work with the Conclave so often took the highest priority that often he missed convocations and primary events. Alonsus trusted the council, for the most part, to set about the diurnal affairs of the church as he carried out his clandestine adventures, but the council's existing angst continued to fester. Eventually, Alonsus missed a particular letter from another bishop regarding the canonization of a saint, and this punctured the wound that had long been festering. Discussion began to open up in the council about the state of affairs. He asked Alonsus Faol for advice, and Faol told him that the work of the Conclave could not be delayed for long. Alonsus left Netherlight Temple for a period of two weeks to try and reign in his affairs, hosting a wide array of synods to liven up activity in the church. Alonsus' efforts were perhaps too little, too late; the malignancy of rumor and intrigue in the council had already taken root, with several of his most trusted ministers becoming inaccessible to him. Alonsus briefly considered removing several key members from office, though he decided ultimately that this shake-up would do more harm than good. He set up a system by which canonization could be handled mostly through the council. Hoping his synods and reforms were enough to placate the council for another week, he set off once again to do the work of the Conclave, this time in Darkshire. In Darkshire, Alonsus would receive a most fateful message from a member of the clergy. As soon as the Chief Shepherd sought out to attend to his business in Darkshire, the council met in a secret session and voted to abolish the position of Archbishop. This created an conundrum of ecclesiastical law, which protects the office of the Chief Shepherd from suppression. Furious that he had been waylaid and that the council gambled with his work, he went to Northshire and denounced the move, suspending the operations of every diocese, congregation, and operation of the council and church central. Once the announcement was over, Alonsus went with his few trusted advisors and wept for the loss of years of progress for the Light. Alonsus decided fatefully to proceed again to the business of the Conclave following this schism, which would eventually lead him to Argus. Fully expecting to perish against the Legion, Alonsus appointed a new Bishop of Stormwind, thus restoring operation to the largest see in the world. Alonsus modified the primary usage of the title of the pontiff of the Light to Chief Shepherd. The council would continue to splinter over the coming months over various issues without Alonsus to mediate. His three once-most trusted advisers suppressed many of his reforms in the council, and today the public is split in its following over the Chief Shepherd and the errant bishops. Alonsus continued to fight the war on crime in Stormwind as well, and he was eventually assassinated and resurrected. Alonsus received visions from the Naaru regarding a new order of the Church, called the Northshire Communion. Together with Jhatolun and Tyragonfal, Alonsus would consecrate and promulgate this new order which would be led by bishops called Shepherds with the goal of serious reform of the ecclesiastic life of the Church. The leader would not be called Archbishop, but Chief Shepherd. Nonetheless, the Chief Shepherd fulfills the same role in the sacred lineage. Unfettered by the cumbersome desires of previous peer, the culture of the First See and the shepherdic office itself would take a marked turn to the trappings of a philosopher-priest, teaching many priests personally in this new order. = = Category:Church of the Holy Light Category:Holy Church Organizations Category:Clergy of the Holy Light